


Something Borrowed

by Ravyn (quoth_the_ravyn)



Series: 100 situations [2]
Category: Rurouni Kenshin
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Clueless dating, Complete crack fic, F/M, Fluff, Kendo, Where Kaoru is Very Confused, Where Kenshin is also Confused at her Confusion, eventually, lots of fluff, not really a serious thing, some smut in the last chapter, they get their shit together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-26
Updated: 2020-06-26
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:15:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24933619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quoth_the_ravyn/pseuds/Ravyn
Summary: It all started with the brazen theft of a sweatshirt.
Relationships: Himura Kenshin/Kamiya Kaoru, Sagara Sanosuke/Takani Megumi
Series: 100 situations [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1813336
Comments: 13
Kudos: 66





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I am slowly, so slowly, moving all of my works from my now deleted LJ & my FFN account. This is not a new story, but a re-posted one.

Kaoru’s head hurt. She wished that she had her normal bout of morning amnesia, but this morning she remembered all too clearly where she was and mostly the whys. It was the fact that she had somehow ended up in Megumi’s boyfriend’s bed in the jock dorm, well, that just spoke of all the reasons why she refused to take flu medicine. Except her med-student roommate had vetoed her protests and shoved it down her throat anyway, and she vaguely remembered Megumi taking her sweatshirt and her phone away from her. She was pretty sure she remembered Sano carrying her to bed so she could sleep off the meds but…

Sano. She was in Sanosuke’s bed.

_On his sheets_.

She was jerked out of her growing horror by someone pounding on the door. Heart slamming into her throat, she jolted into a sitting position and stared at the door. The knock repeated and a voice she did not recognize shouted through the door, exasperation heavy and easily recognized.

“Sano! Time to get up you lug! You’re going to be late for your first class.”

The voice was male and somewhere between a tenor and a baritone that had no trouble broadcasting. The comment about class registered through a shot of adrenaline, cutting through the fog of her cold, and her eyes went wide. Twisting around, she looked for her phone and instead found a clock and couldn’t quite hide her noise of horror when she saw the time. Late. She was really, _really_ late. If Sano’s alarm clock could be trusted she had slept through half of Art History and was going to miss her Calculus class if she didn’t haul ass.

Her mental calculations were interrupted by Sano’s roommate on the other side of the door. “I’m hitting the shower so this is your last warning. If Megumi is in there, tell her she’s late for anatomy.”

Kaoru rolled out of the bed as soon as she thought he had walked away, mentaly wondering why someone would keep track of everyone else's schedules. She barely remembered her own on a good day. Straightening up, she immediately regretted the motion as her head started to swim and the full body ache threatened to knock her flat. Rubbing her temples and wondering how it was possible to feel so _terrible_ , she looked around bleary eyed for her sweater. It was late fall and starting to turn cold and while she still had her clothing on from the night before, the hooded sweater she had worn was missing.

What was her luck today?

Shivering a little, she wrapped her arms around herself. As long as she didn’t start coughing she should manage to keep from getting scolded by her roommate. Maybe. But if she went outside without some protection she was going to end up on the wrong side of Megumi’s temper and she just didn’t feel up to it. Honestly, the only thing stopping her from falling back into bed was that this was _Sano’s_ bed, with Sano’s _sheets_ and she already felt dirty.

Closing her eyes, she debated riffling through Sano’s things and dismissed it. The man was just too tall and too broad. Kaoru stepped out of Sano’s room and sighed at how much nicer it was than the cramped little tin box she and Megumi shared, before then sprinting to the second door in the short wallway. The shared bathroom door was shut, the sounds of the shower running, and so she took a deep breath and promised herself that she could find something worthy to black mail Megumi into anything she found back and opened the door. For a moment, she blinked at just how clean the room was.

Her gaze snagged on a dark green hooded sweater on the sturdy desk chair. It looked far more normal sized than something Sano owned. Hearing the pipes turn off, and remembering that all her books were back at her apartment, Kaoru wrenched the sweater off the chair, apologized to the man who it belonged to and bolted to the door where her tennis shoes had been set. Not bothering to do more than a cursory glance around to see if her things had been left out for her to find, she cursed when they werent and moved into the hallways while pulling on her borrowed sweater ignoring the drowsy athletes exiting the building, and sprinted down the sidewalk that would take her across campus to her own room.

‘I think I prefer coffee as a wakeup call than a mad dash,’ Kaoru thought as she dodged fellow students. She almost took out a boy on roller-skates, calling an apology over her shoulder as she moved. ‘I am soooo late!’

* * *

Kaoru sat down on her lunch table and dropped her head onto her arm. She was just lucky that today was Megumi’s lab day or she would be getting the lecture of her life. She had stumbled into Calc and realized she had forgotten her homework and sat through her Ancient History class with a blank expression on her face and the pen still in her backpack.

She felt horrible.

She’d barely even bothered to pay attention to the buzz of conversation around her, even when the muttered words of _kendo_ would have usually had her straining to hear more. Now she was trying to find the will to eat the pasta salad she had bought for lunch because she didn’t want to risk going back to the apartment and all the soup options had been spicy. She felt a little guilty because the five that paid for her lunch had been in the sweater (and subsequently, not hers) but she just felt too bad to feel guilty enough not to use it.

Wishing she knew what Megumi had done with her phone, she could really have used a ten minute nap and an alarm to wake her up. Sighing, she’d let herself settle into a half doze

when the sound of chairs scrapping around her had her reluctantly lifting her head to find herself looking at three men who looked vaguely familiar. There was a redhead with a ready smile, tucking into what looked like chicken and dumplings while the other two had something richly spiced that had her stomach rolling so that she put her face back in her arms in an attempt to curb the sudden nausea.

“Hey Lady!” the voice to her right drawled out. “You should eat that before it gets cold.” The scraping noise as someone kicked someone else had her lifting her head to watch them over the ridge of the green sweater.

“She is eating a cold salad, idiot. Did Himura hit you too many times in the head with his bokken?”

The redhead rolled his eyes. Her tired eyes snagged on his hair, not sure if she was imagining the rich color or if she was starting to run a fever. He was also… pretty. Really, pretty.

“I didn’t spar with Cho today,” he said patiently before reaching for the salt. Dazedly, Kaoru realized he must be Himura. “Any confusion is all his own.”

“Are you feeling alright?” The one named Cho asked while peering at her, or what he could see of her face as she stared. “Hey, I think she's sick.”

“Obviously the freshmen these days don’t know how to care for their sick girlfriends,” the man on her right said in disgust. “What do you think, Himura? I always take my significant other home for soup in bed and sympaaathy, if you catch my drift.”

“Kamatari, we do not need to know about your fantasies of playing nurse,” Cho said.

Himura looked her over at her with obvious concern. “Are you alright?”

Kaoru grunted and shut her eyes to block them out and concentrated on taking deep breaths until she could breathe without her chest hurting. She yelped when someone poked her in the forehead, snapping her eyes open and sitting up to glare at where the honestly freezing finger had been.

“Shit, she’s burning up. Hey, miss? Can we take you to the nurse?”

Nurse… Megumi! Megumi was going to be getting out of class soon. Kaoru winced at the thought. If she was running a fever, she needed to be barricaded inside her room before her friend noticed she was home or she was going to find herself subjected to any number of awful tasting medications. Exhaustion beat at her, and she knew there was no point in trying to salvage any of her classes for the rest of the day.

Pushing to her feet, she blinked as the world went a little fuzzy, shaking herself as it cleared. Glancing up, she found the entire table watching her carefully and sudden embarrassment left her cheeks hot. For a moment, she considered saying something, but then again, she’d enver seen any of these people before in her life. Still…

Clearing her throat, she grabbed her bag and took a step back. “Thanks, but I’ll just… go.”

Spinning on her heel, she took off at not quite a sprint, but close. Behind her, there was a startled exclamation, and as she ducked around a corner, she could have sworn she heard laughter.

“Hey! That’s _your_ sweater!”

* * *

By the time she got to the apartment building on the far edge of campus she was coughing so hard her eyes were watering and Kaoru promised herself no more sprinting. The apartment was still dark so she assumed that Megumi was still in the lab. Shutting the door behind her, she peeled the sweater from her back and walked to her closet, throwing it on top of her dirty clothes pile, ignoring the clank of spare coins. Shuking the rest of her outside clothes, she changed into the thickest pair of pajamas she owned before falling into the bed and rolling herself into a cocoon. She wasn’t sure how long she laid there before the sound of the front door opening and closing caught her fogged brains attention.

"Kaoru! You forgot to lock the door again!”

Megumi’s familiar voice cut through the exhaustion and she sighed. “Sorry!”

Her voice was super hoarse, and she wasn’t sure if her friend had heard her.

“Kaoru, what…” Megumi’s words died as she poked her head into the room and took in Kaoru’s body rolled in her bedding. Kaoru opened her eyes reluctantly and onto her back to find the disapproving look Megumi was favoring her with. “You let Sano drive you home this morning, right? I stole your sweater and phone so you would have to ask someone. If you walked across campus in this weather without any sort of coat…”

“You’re very loud,” Kaoru rasped out.

Megumi sighed and walked in, pulling the familiar phone case from her pocket. “Honestly, Kaoru. What am I going to do with you?”

“You can turn the light off when you leave,” Kaoru suggested.

Her eyes narrowed, but Megumi nodded. “I knew we should have called Kenshin and asked him to give you a lift home. They’re supposed to be coming over tonight to study but I will try to rearrange it…” Megumi’s voice died off as she left the room and shut the door. “I’ll wake you up for meds later.”

Kaoru groaned and yanked the blankets over her head.

* * *

“… your sweater?” Megumi’s voice woke her up some unknown amount of time later. “I have no idea… why?”

There was a rumble of noise that Kaoru couldn’t quite decipher.

“What do you mean she was in the cafeteria eating? She didn’t have her wallet or her ID!” Megumi’s voice rose in pitch. “What do you mean she wasn’t there when you got back?”

Sano’s smooth baritone had her pulling the blanket over her head so she couldn’t hear the rest of the conversation. Her chest burned with the need to couch, but all that would do was alert people she was awake. She wanted to go back to sleep. After several moments of blissful silence, she froze when she heard her door open.

“So help me Sano, if you wake her over a sweater I think I will kill you!” Megumi’s voice hissed into the silence, and Kaoru scowled.

“You have to admit it’s funny as hell. She would have had to have snuck into his room and everything,” Sano replied, his voice muffled as he obviously attempted to keep from laughing. “He was so embarrassed when I caught him at lunch. The boys were giving him hell over not knowing his own girlfriend.”

Kaoru squinted underneath her sheets. The light was bright but thankfully the flannel of her sheets kept most of it out. Still. Lowering the sheet, she stared at the man hovering outside of her closest and cleared her throat. “What do you _want_?”

Sano froze at her words, gaze jumping to the bed where he winced. Behind him Megumi’s face was torn between murderous and concerned, and she carefully cleared her throat, hoping it sounded better on the second attempt.

“Go _away_.” Her words this time were punctuated by painful coughs that made her eyes water and she tried to muffle them into her blankets.

“Um….” Sano tried, giving Megumi’s face a nervous glance. “Looking for a sweater?”

Kaoru pointed to the door, wheezing through the coughing fit.

“I’ll go and make you some tea to soothe that cough,” Megumi offered, pushing Sano out of the bedroom. “Sano was _just_ leaving.”

Groaning at what Megumi’s idea of soothing a cough would taste like, Kaoru pressed her face into the bed and coughed even harder.

* * *

Kaoru pulled the blankets up to her chin and gave Megumi a meek look. “I promise to be good and to stay inside. If I get hungry, there I will only microwave the emergency soup stash. I’ll be fine, I promise.” She smiled at her best friend. “You look fantastic.”

The last few days had been a blur of coughing and Megumi force feeding her medication, which in turn sent her right back to bed. She knew it was Friday, that she had fallen ill on Tuesday. She’d managed to email her professors about being sick and thankfully gotten an extension on one of her papers, but that was a problem for Sunday. Hopefully by then she’d feel even better than she did now.

Megumi gave her a small, pleased smile before tossing her hair over her shoulder. “Sano said to dress up, it’s some sports banquet. His roommate is supposed to be going as well and I get to act as a date for both of them. Apparently Kenshin’s new girlfriend, who I still haven’t met has the flu so he isn’t taking her,” Megumi’s eyes narrowed as she considered Kaoru. “Do you even remember him?’

“Who?” Kaoru asked, blinking at her friend and adjusting her grip on the remote. She had been confined to the couch but Megumi, who’s budget had far more flexibility than Kaoru’s, did not mind sharing her Netflix account details. Kaoru had dreams of binging terrible Kung Fu movies for the rest of the evening.

“Kenshin Himura,” Megumi stressed carefully, eyes scanning her face. “The man who woke you up the morning you stayed at Sano’s? The one who stayed here two nights ago and kept an eye on you while I studied for my genetics test?”

Kaoru blinked “You had a genetics test?” She frowned. “You let someone else watch me while I had the flu?”

“The kendo team all received flu shots,” Megumi returned with a shrug. “And I can’t trust Kenshin to keep an eye on you, I can’t trust anyone.”

Not sure how she felt about that, Kaoru shook her head. “Nope. I vaguely remember the guy who woke me up, kind of, but that day is a blur.”

“Right. Well, I won’t be back until _late_ so don’t wait up,” Megumi ordered. Kaoru gave a salute and watched as Megumi put on her jacket with an eye roll Opening the door she paused for a moment, considering Kaoru for a long moment.

“By the way,” she said with a curling little smile. “Kenshin wants his sweater back.”

The door shut behind her with a click.

His sweater? What sweater? She had someone’s sweater? Frowning Kaoru tried to put a sweater with a face and when that didn’t work, started back tracking. The crazy day that had been Monday swam into memory fuzzily, and Kaoru groaned as she remembered _exactly_ what sweater Megumi was talking about. Crap. She owed this mysterious person five bucks to boot. Well, that seemed like another problem for next week. Settling in deeper into the couch, Kaoru flicked start on her first movie.

She was halfway through her second movie when a knock sounded on the door. Looking at the clock, Kaoru considered ignoring the noise. 9pm wasn’t late, late but also not ideal to have visitors. And she couldn’t think of anyone who would want to visit at this time of night. When the knock continued to rap persistently she kicked back the blankets with a groan, and made sure she was decent. Shrugging at her choice of pajamas, and a little thankful she had showered that afternoon, she peaked through the peephole in the door and blinked.

The man outside the door with his thick red hair was familiar, but she couldn’t exactly place him. The dark pair of slacks and dress shirt and tie suggested he wasn’t here to murder her and she wondered if he had come from the banquet. Deciding it was probably fine, she unlocked the door and opened it enough to see him clearer.

And was surprised at just how pretty he was. Tipping her head, she blinked. “Are you looking for Megumi?”

The man smiled at her, showing off a dimple in his left cheek. “No, actually, I wasn’t.” He lifted a brow. “Do you think I can come in?”

Kaoru’s eyebrows bunched together. “I am not in the habit of letting strange men into my apartment.” The fact that he was the most attractive man she had seen in a while was not enough to let him in the door.

“I’m Kenshin,” he said with a slow growing smile. “Sano’s roommate?”

“Oh,” she managed. She eyed him for a moment, blinking when he lifted his hands as if showing her that he didn’t have any weapons, Kaoru finally shuffled aside to let him in. “If you’re not here for Megumi, I can honestly say I have no idea why you _are_ here.”

“Megumi said you had my sweater and I was passing back through on my way to the apartment and I thought I would check in on you,” Kenshin replied easily, taking in the paused movie and nest of blankets. “I take it you’re feeling better?”

Kaoru blinked and flushed. “Oh, yeah. Kenshin Himura. Megumi said you took care of me the other day. Thanks.”

Kenshin gave a slight shrug and smiled again. “It wasn’t a big deal, I felt bad for waking you that morning. If I had known Sano had left to crash here after you fell asleep, I wouldn’t have bothered. You were pretty sick.”

She winced. “And then I stole your sweater. Let me just… go get that.”Kaoru turned in the hopes that he wouldn’t see how red her cheeks had grown, and headed into her bedroom. It took some searching to remember what she had done with the sweater, and a search in her laundry pile before locating it.

“I’m pretty sure I borrowed five bucks,” she informed him in an apologetic voice. “And honestly, I can wash it if you’d prefer. Laundry hasn’t been on top of my to-do list yet.”

“Thanks, but I don’t mind washing it,” Kenshin replied easily. His head tipped to the side, and Kaoru realized his eyes were a color somewhere between blue and indigo. She didn’t know people could have that eye color outside of anime. When he continued to watch her, she frowned.

“Um… did you need something else?”

“What are you doing next Wednesday?”

“Wednesday?” Kaoru managed, trying to think of her schedule. “Probably homework in an attempt to catch up with what I missed this week.”

“How about I take you out for dinner as a homework break,” Kenshin offered.

“Huh?”

He slipped a hand in his pocket and smiled. “Wednesday. Dinner. You and me? My treat?”

“But I owe _you_ five dollars,” Kaoru pointed out.

“Consider that our first date then,” Kenshin offered. “I _was_ there that afternoon although I am pretty sure you don’t remember much of that meal.” At her blank expression he grinned. “So is that a yes?”

“I suppose,” Kaoru said slowly, still looking perplexed.

Smile widening, he tipped his head to the couch. “You should probably still be resting. I’ll leave you to it, and does five work?”

Kaoru nodded, walking him to the door, her expression baffled. Kenshin picked up her hand and kissed her knuckles with a wink, cheerfully whistling as he stepped into the wind, his sweater tossed over his shoulder.

“That,” Kaoru muttered, “was odd.”

But apparently she had a date on Wednesday.


	2. Chapter 2

Kaoru studied herself in the mirror, wondering why she was bothering what was probably going to turn out to be something just between friends anyway. The conversation with Kenshin the other night had been weird. There was no way she was going out on a date with a man who had only seen her haggard and gross from the flu. The more she thought about it the more it made sense that they’d get to know each other since his friend was dating her best friend.

She wasn’t quite sure what to do with the disappointment in her stomach at that thought.

Instead of trying, she’d thrown herself into her homework. On Sunday, she’d locked herself in her room with her books and laptop, only coming out for a quick pb&j, and she had finally made a dent in her backlog. Monday and Tuesday slowed her down once she started attending classes, but all of her spare time was spent in the library. Kenshin had gotten her number, probably from Sano, and sent her a text if they could change dinner to movie due to some of his own class nightmares, and she’d agreed.

A movie was way better for a casual get together, after all.

Jeans, _her_ sweatshirt, braid. Satisfied, Kaoru added the finishing touches to her outfit and slipped on her shoes while she waited for Kenshin to show. She was in the process of locating her purse when the doorbell rang. Giving herself one last once over, Kaoru went to answer the door, picking up her purse as she went. Kenshin smiled as soon as she came into view, showing off the dimple in his left cheek. He was dressed as casually as she was, the dark material of his hooded sweatshirt contrasting against his hair.

His ridiculously pretty hair.

"Ready?"

Kaoru flicked the lock into place as she stepped out. "Yup," she agreed, falling into step beside him as they walked to the stairs leading to the parking lot. "Did you decide which movie you wanted to see?"

Kenshin had offered to let her choose but Kaoru hadn’t had time to catch up on what was showing. She had asked for action and no subtitles, because she trusted no one other than herself when it came to picking forgein films. She had no idea if Kenshin was forgeign film snob, but she had standards.

"Mmm," Kenshin agreed. "You asked for something that required little concentration and explosions. Lucky for you, the movies were kind enough to release such a flick two days ago."

The little compact car sitting in her parking lot was clean, and she noted, new. Biting her tongue to hold in a question, Kenshin laughed softly next to her as he caught her expression.

"Bet with my guardian. I paid for college; he had to make the payments on my vehicle. It allowed me to upgrade a little."

"My cousin drives a Volvo," Kaoru commented. "They're good cars."

"I like it," Kenshin murmured, opening her door. Kaoru blinked but slid into the car. She took a careful breath and looked around as he moved to the drivers side. Surprisingly, for a boy athlete's car, it didn't smell like dirty socks. Instead, there was a faint ginger smell mixed with leather that was actually pleasant, and the floorboards had been recently vacuumed.

His room, she remembered, had also been neat.

"So which movie theater are we going to?" Kaoru asked as he buckled himself in and started the engine.

"The new one," Kenshin said with a smile. "They have better seats."

Kaoru nodded, her own faint smile starting at the corners of her mouth. It was nice spending the evening with someone hardly taller than she was for once. The conversation quickly turned to classes and the amount of homework certain professors seemed to delight in giving.

"Oh I had him last semester," Kenshin said in an apologetic tone. "He's particularly evil right before a holiday."

"Calculus is supposed to be hard," Kaoru agreed with a sigh. "But sometimes I wonder if he doesn't sit at home and think of ways to torture his students. I bet he has a list of things he had done in the past and rated them 1-10, so that he can remember his best torture tactics for future classes."

Kenshin laughed as he turned into the movie theater's surprisingly full parking lot. She didn't think Wednesday nights were the usual night to take a girl to a movie and here she had been hoping to avoid the couples. Kenshin seemed to think the same if the faint lines around his mouth said anything, so Kaoru shrugged and climbed out of the car.

“Just so we are clear,” Kenshin said lightly as they headed inside. “I’m buying the tickets.”

"You don't need to buy my ticket," She argued automatically.

"Kaoru," Kenshin replied in the same tone, smile firmly in place. "My treat tonight, remember?"

“That was dinner,” she protested. “Movie theatre prices are ridiculously overpriced.”

Brows winging upwards, he was interrupted from responding to a loud whistle.

"Hey Himura! How is your girlfriend?"

Kaoru looked up to see several boys with their arms around the shoulders of two women who were obviously _their_ girlfriends, but not anyone she knew.

"She is doing much better," Kenshin called, smiling as they walked up to the line.

"Awesome," the one with the blond hair spiked up high commented. He gave her a warm smile. "You two enjoy the movie then."

Kaoru blinked but didn't argue as she was pulled forward.

"You have a girlfriend?" she asked after they were moving inside. She glared faintly at the tickets in his hand. He hadn't paid her any attention, just continued smiling until she ran out of breath to argue, a small smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"Mmmm," Kenshin said, smiling again. "Did you want popcorn?"

"If I want it I can pay for it!" Kaoru returned. Kenshin laughed and tugged her into the concession line, and it was with great reluctance that she dropped his hand.

_Girlfriend_.

Figured. She didn’t know what to feel that she had been right. Friends. They were friends.

* * *

Kaoru sulked, balancing a carton of milk duds and a soda as Kenshin led the way down the aisle for their seats. For all the people outside, the room held a surprising number of empty chairs. Flopping down onto Kenshin's left; Kaoru set her drink down on _her_ left and opened her candy, ignoring the amused smile on his face.

"You're not going to wait until the movie starts?"

"I am consoling myself over the fact that I am not allowed to do you physical harm in public," Kaoru corrected, popping one into her mouth to suck the chocolate off the caramel.

"You're sulking," Kenshin's voice was amused.

"I am very good at it," Kaoru replied as the lights started to lower. "Watch me ignore you too."

Another soft laugh and then the opening credits were rolling. Kaoru set the box down in her lap and settled herself a bit more comfortably in the hope of enjoying the movie. Kenshin seemed as willing to do as she did, popping his feet up on the empty chair in front of them and sipping silently on his drink.

* * *

"Kaoru," the voice was low and something warm curved along her jaw. "Come on honey, wake up."

Kaoru made a noise of complaint and snuggled closer to the warmth under her cheek. Her pillow started to vibrate and Kaoru finally opened her eyes to see people standing up, her vision obscured by something dark and slightly fuzzy. The lights were on. Lifting her eyes, Kaoru found herself looking up at Kenshin, who seemed to be struggling not to smile. She had apparently fallen asleep. Pushing up, absently noticing the hand falling away from her face, Kaoru covered a yawn and rubbed her eyes, attempting not to blush.

"Oops," she mumbled, picking up her half empty box of milk duds and standing hurriedly. "I usually don't fall asleep on people."

Kenshin offered her a grin as he stood smoothly, the motion almost seamless. "It's alright," he consoled, motioning for her to lead the way out of the row. "You didn't snore too loudly."

Kaoru sacrificed a piece of remaining candy to fling it at his head.

"I don't snore," she informed him with a sniff as he ducked. "Unless," she amended, "I have a head cold. Which I don't. Anymore, anyway.”

"If you say so," Kenshin teased as he looped her arm through his once there was room. "But I am sure the loud, train like noise wasn't you."

Kaoru eyed him. "Do you like your knees?"

"I am quite attached to them," Kenshin agreed, the corners of his lips lifting.

"I would hate for something to happen to them," Kaoru drawled, pausing between words to yawn again. "So that we're clear, I don't snore."

"You don't snore," Kenshin faithfully repeated, "Often." The yelp he gave when she pinched his side was gratifying. "That smarts," he informed her, rubbing his hip.

"Serves you right," Kaoru told him with a roll of her eyes. "Now you should take me home before I decide to kick you."

Kenshin's answer was to laugh, shaking his head as they walked back to the car.

* * *

Kaoru shut the door with a sigh, deciding that the elegant bow Kenshin had etched just before she shut the door was both ridiculous and somehow cute. Turning on her heel, she pressed a hand to her heart when she found Megumi standing too close for comfort.

"How was your date?"

"It wasn't a date," Kaoru corrected, pulling her sweater off and sighing. "It was a mutual friend thing. You and Sano are _dating_ , so _obviously_ we need to get to know each other.” She sighed. “He has a girlfriend."

Megumi's eyes widened and then her mouth twitched at the corners. "Is that what he said?"

"About the girlfriend?" Kaoru questioned, lifting a brow. "Yes. We ran into some friends of his and they asked how his girlfriend was doing, he said better and then we… watched the movie." Her stomach twisted again and she shrugged. C’est la vie. “I am taking a shower and then going to bed. I am beat."

Stepping around her roommate, who was clearly having some sort of hysterical fit, she headed into the shared bathroom and decided that the best way to deal with Megumi tonight was just to ignore her.


	3. Chapter 3

Kaoru sat on one of the many benches on campus tucked under an assortment of trees and supposed they were there to give students a chance to sit quietly in the peacefulness of nature. She could really use some of that peacefulness right now. Huffing out a long breath, she glared at the quiz held tightly enough between her fingers that her knuckles were white and the paper was crinkled. The letter at the top of the page was written in gigantic purple ink instead of the usual red, and she hated it on sight. At least with red you knew that whatever lay before you – it could be bad. Purple… purple was the royal color and comforting; the color of dusk and sleep.

If she just glared hard enough, perhaps she could make the evil mark go away.

"Hey, fancy seeing you here." Kenshin's lightly teasing voice cut through her growing rage and Kaoru lifted her face to see him bent slightly over so he could smile at her, a black backpack slung casually over one shoulder and a Styrofoam cup cradled between his hands. The warm liquid was probably to ward off the cold of the slowly deepening clouds.

It was going to be cold enough to snow soon.

Kaoru considered his smile. Open. Friendly. Disgustingly unhelpful. She wasn’t really in the mood to deal with his helpfulness and her lingering attraction just then. Standing up, she picked up her own backpack and shouldered it. Turning on her heel, she started the march to the Math building.

"Kaoru?" She was forced to stop when he tugged lightly on the strap of her bag, rocking her back on her heels.

"What?" Kaoru's grumped, knowing she sounded snippy and sounding somewhat bad for it. It wasn’t Kenhin’s fault he was so nice but it was cold and she was dealing with a problem. Granted, the crisis was simply a manner of how many pieces she could get away with breaking her tutor into…

"Something wrong?"

"Won't be for long," Kaoru assured him. "I am going to go and brain someone with their own math book and then I will feel _much_ better."

Kenshin stepped around her, blocking her path with a brow lifted in question. Kaoru knew that expression. That was the expression he had worn when he forced her to have coffee with him two days ago because she had been caught out in a tiny sprinkle and gotten just a tiny bit wet, insisting that she needed to warm up.

Kaoru blew out a breath that ruffled her bangs. He wasn’t going to budge.

"I am having a bit of a struggle getting back on my feet in my calc class after being sick for a week," she finally admitted. Mentally she wondered if his girlfriend had some tips on how to deal with him when he got this stubborn, wondered if she’d dare ask if she met her. “So to combat that, I have been going to a tutor. However, I apparently managed not to learn a damn thing."

"So your plan is to brain the tutor?" His voice was even, but the corner of his mouth twitched.

"You're right," Kaoru admitted. "Braining him is a bad plan. He obviously is lacking something there. It probably wouldn’t help.”

He gave up the fight on his smile then and she gave him a flat stare.

"Why don't you come back to the dorm with me instead," Kenshin offered. When her expression remained flat, his smile widened. “I have hot chocolate," he coaxed. "Sano is gone for the afternoon so it will be quiet and I can look over that quiz for you. Remember," he pointed out when her face became even unhappier. "I had that class last spring. I might still have my notes."

Kaoru gave in. Potentially legible notes were completely against her willpower.

* * *

"I hope you don't mind peanut butter?" Kenshin asked, setting down the tray with two mugs of hot chocolate and a plate of peanut butter cookies. Kaoru blinked at the offering before snagging a mug and snuggling backwards into the fluffy pillows on the couch. Calculus did not deserve her happy chocolate time, yet it needed to be done. She leveled him with a morose glare until Kenshin picked up the quiz, obviously hiding a smile. She sipped consolingly on the delicious treat while he picked up a pencil and started to write on the crinkled paper.

"You didn't do too badly," Kenshin said finally, tapping the pencil against his bottom lip. "You just mixed a few rules, that's all. It's fairly fixable." He scooted over until their legs were touching and settled the book he had placed the quiz against onto both of their legs.

"See?" He slowly went through the first equation, showing her what she had done and then showing her the corrections.

Kaoru set the mug down and leaned closer to his shoulders, chewing on her bottom lip. "What did you do again?"

The discussion went on until he had gone through each problem twice, carefully pointing out her mistakes and writing out the correct formula to the side. Once she felt far more comfortable with the unnecessary foreign language that was math, he disappeared into the bedroom and came back with a worn binder labeled Calculus I. Kaoru had taken advantage of his absence to finish the warm chocolate and eat two of the cookies. She wasn't sure how, but he managed to coax her into pulling out that week's homework and walking her through the areas she was having trouble.

She thought it might have something to do with the cookies.

Kaoru had no idea how much time had passed until Kenshin stood to turn on a lamp, both of them having apparently missed the setting of the sun.

"Oh crap," Kaoru muttered, hurriedly stuffing papers into her book and shoving everything back into her book bag. "It's my night to come up with dinner!" She paused and then sighed. "Which means by this point Megumi has ordered a pizza and is going to demand I reimburse her."

Kenshin lifted a brow, eyes glancing at a clock. "It's not even six yet."

"Oh," Kaoru flushed slightly, standing and forcing herself not to grab another cookie. Darn him for having edible junk food readily available. "Cooking isn't one of my strong points and the standard rule is if I am late, she orders take-out. Unfortunately, her idea of late is um… well, as soon as she walks in the door and sees I'm not home."

Kenshin shoved his hands in his pockets, something warm hovering in his eyes.

"You are welcome to stay if you want," he offered. "I can cook while you finish that homework."

The welcome expression left her staring until she realized what she was doing and she jerked her eyes away. ' _He has a girlfriend, Kamiya_!'

Kaoru waved her hand, slinging her bag over her shoulder. "Thanks, but I should be getting back. I have some other things I need to work on. Besides, I have taken up more than enough of your time."

"I don't mind." Kenshin assured, walking to the door as she moved to leave.

"You might not," she said with a smile, twisting so she could get by him and moving into the hallway. "But your girlfriend probably does. See yah!"

Kaoru trudged down the hallway, ignoring the incredulous laughter that echoed after her.


	4. Chapter 4

Kaoru adjusted her position on the stairs and continued to glare at her Art History book. The evils of calculus were tucked safely into her backpack until three, then she had to pull it out for her tutoring session. Thankfully, a _different_ tutor than the one Kenshin had saved from bodily harm a week or so ago. She was looking forward to the help, but the idea of spending any more time with a calc book left her fighting a headache. Just what she needed really; another person explaining a complicated process in a way which she did not understand.

Though Kenshin had been beyond helpful the other day. It really was a pity he was committed to someone else. A boyfriend who could explain math and liked to cook while being that pretty and kind was not a combination anyone would give up without a fight. She needed to get the butterflies he set off under her skin under control and soon.

Sano was hinting at a party at their place soon, and it was impossible to survive one of his parties completely sober. Drunk-Kaoru was not known for being… tactful. The sooner she met Kenshin’s girlfriend, the better. Lusting after a taken man was something she refused to do. She didn’t know if it was the fact that she liked him, but he kept popping up in her life lately and it was not helping her crush.

She had seen Kenshin once or twice since he had tutored her, but hadn’t actually talked to him. Both times he had been in a group, chatting as they moved across campus. The fact that the majority of his group had been girl’s dressed far too pretty for class had her rolling her eyes in an attempt to ignore the strange tightening in her chest. She had decided that the little blond who seemed to chase him around had to be his girlfriend. The girl was very cute.

Her stomach gurgled and Kaoru eyed the bag of goldfish that she had intended to be her snake that had instead become her lunch, she grimaced. She probably could have taken the time and gone to the cafeteria for lunch, but she had left her wallet at the apartment. _Again_. She was just going to have to get into the habit of putting money in her backpack for the week. Sometimes she really missed the dorm meal plan.

Just give me a few more hours, Kaoru mentally told her complaining stomach. ‘Then we can go and see what Megumi decided to make for dinner. The woman had been muttering about carbs for dinner, and Kaoru loved pasta. She just couldn’t be trusted to cook it. Shutting the book, Kaoru glared at her watch. Dammit. She still had half an hour to go. It was almost worth the trek to the apartment to grab a granola bar just to kill the time.

“Studying?”

Kaoru whipped her head around fast enough that her braid smacked her in the neck. Kenshin was watching her with that damnable smile in place. He must have just come from kendo practice because he looked a little worn and his hair looked damp. Not to mention he was wearing the amusing green team sweats. He’d dropped hints a couple times that she should come to a practice session, not knowing of her own history with the sport, but she hadn’t trusted herself to _just_ watch him.

“Has anyone ever told you that you resemble a Christmas tree in those sweats?”

He snorted, folding his legs under him so he could sit next to her. “No,” he returned. “You missed lunch.”

“Huh?” Kaoru asked, looking at him in confusion.

“Megumi joined us for lunch. She was late because she was waiting on you and you didn’t show,” Kenshin said. “You did eat, didn’t you?’

Kaoru stared at him before rolling her eyes. “Yes, I ate. Thank you.”

He continued to give her a look. “What?”

“Excuse me?”

“What did you eat?” Kenshin repeated patiently. “Megumi says you have the tendency not to eat properly balanced meals, so I’m curious.”

“I will have you know I had fish for lunch,” Kaoru shot back, unzipping her backpack so she could shove her books inside. “Why so much concern, anyway?” She turned and met his skeptical look head on. “Really, Kenshin. Did you need something or do you just like to annoy me?”

“I like to annoy you,” Kenshin replied with a smile, his violet eyes crinkled at the corners. He really did have the most interesting eyes. “You get the cutest wrinkle between your eyes.”

“Puppies are cute,” Kaoru informed him with a frown. “Definitely not wrinkles.”

“This one is,” Kenshin informed her, a grin tugging at his lips as he reached over and ran a finger between her eyes until he reached the tip of her nose, which he tapped. “See?”

“No,” Kaoru informed him, standing. “I need to jet. Some of us have calc to suffer through.”

Once she had adjusted her backpack she blinked at the sight of Kenshin holding a familiar baggy. Oops. She had forgotten she hadn’t put the damaging evidence back into her bag.

“Fish for lunch,” Kenshin replied in a tone that meant she was going to be getting a lecture from Megumi at some point. He waved it around so the last of the cheese crackers shaped like fish wigged between the bits of plastic. “Kaoru, this is not healthy.”

Kaoru moved down the steps, lifting her hand in a wave. “I gotta run. Calc tutor and all. May I suggest you shower?”

Turning on her heel Kaoru did her best to move as a brisk walk and not turn it into a sprint. The fact that she could feel Kenshin’s displeasure as she walked away kept her moving.


	5. Chapter 5

Saturday night’s were never quiet in the dorms, but tonight was particularly loud. He’d been forced to ignore a number of voices calling out his name, but tonight he was too tired to play nice. The bus ride home had been torturously long, and he just wanted a shower and bed.

‘Maybe if someone else makes it to Nationals, the fan girls will start bothering them.’ Kenshin’s mouth twisted down at the thought. A man could hope. Stepping into the elevator, he dropped his bag with a sigh and brought his hands up to rub his face, hoping to dispel the ache behind his eyes. Bringing his watch down to eye level when it beeped he groaned; at 3 A.M. even Sano would be sleeping.

And hopefully the party Sano had been planning would have wound down. His friend had mentioned that Megumi was coming, which meant that Kaoru might have tagged along. Disappointment flickered through him at the idea of missing her. He didn’t know if he should be amused or just frustrated at her continued lack of understanding about their relationship. He would give her a little more time before he spelled it out. Some things were just worth enjoying and the confused little blush every time he touched her hand or kissed her cheek was more than worth it.

He was the first to admit that the movie hadn’t turned out exactly as he had expected, but he couldn’t say he minded being her impromptu pillow or the way she smelled like flowers. Bending down to pick up his bag when the doors dinged open, Kenshin let out a low groan at the way his muscles protested and the thump of music echoing down the hall. Rubbing his eyes in an attempt to hold his temper, he moved down the hall and stubbornly ignored the music. He was tired enough that he might actually be tempted to go and yell at someone. Gritting his teeth, he pulled out his keys and unlocked the door, letting out a curse when the scent of beer and sweat reached his nose.

Bodies. Kenshin slowly blinked at the bodies strewn out across his living room; someone had even curled up on top of the table. Half of them he recognized by the sounds of their snores, the other half… he didn’t. The fact that he had to pick his way across the floor set his teeth on edge; if he found some stranger sleeping in his bed like last time, things would probably get violent fast. He needed at least four hours of sleep before Sano woke up or there was no guarantee that he would be polite to the remaining guests. Opening his door, he set his bag down with a thump and tugged on his bangs before looking at the bed. Empty. Sighing in relief, he turned and shut the door; locking it firmly behind him before he turned to make his way into the shower.

There was a body sprawled next to his desk, curled up around a couch pillow. Long, black hair spilled across his floor and he stood there for long moments, blinking to make sure that he wasn’t imagining things. As tired as he was, it was possible. Realizing it wasn’t a mirage, he shook his head. Only Kaoru would hide in his room to sleep on the floor.

Right. First relocate the sleeping woman and then take a shower. He had showered at the hotel before they had driven back but after riding in close quarters in a van with several other men who didn’t feel the need to shower, he needed hot water. Reaching down he carefully slid his arms under Kaoru’s limp form and lifted her. She made a faint noise and wiggled closer, her nose pressed against his neck as she inhaled and he gave into the urge to smile again. Moving to the bed he reached out to pull the covers back when she moved again, this time the noise coherent.

“Wadda…”, Kaoru mumbled, her head falling off his shoulder and onto his arm so he found himself staring into sleepy blue eyes.

“I don’t think the floor is the most comfortable place to sleep,” Kenshin told her as he settled her on the bed. “I’m putting you in my bed. We’ll have to share later, but I promise to keep my hands to myself.”

“Fine. Loud,” Kaoru grumbled, her eyes closing. “Stupid Sano.”

Kenshin swallowed a laugh. “Go back to sleep, honey.”

Instead of answering, she tucked herself around one of his pillows and made an agreeable noise. Kenshin watched her for a moment before turning and heading into the bathroom, intent on taking the fastest shower of his life. By the time he walked back out, clean and relaxed, she had kicked the covers off and sprawled out across the length of his bed, one leg hanging off the mattress. Rolling his eyes, Kenshin pulled the covers back up and settled next to her, picking his second pillow off the floor and carefully rearranging her limbs. Hopefully she remembered enough of the conversation in the morning to remember that she agreed to share the bed.

* * *

Kenshin woke to the loud sound of Sano yelling for someone to grab the fire extinguisher. Blinking slowly, he growled in protest as someone rattled his door handle; the smile on his face sharp when they were unable to gain entrance. Curling one arm around the waist of the woman using him as an impromptu pillow, he cracked one eye open. Kaoru had wrapped herself around his torso, one arm trapped underneath his stomach, the other wrapped around his back so her hand was wrapped loosely around his bicep. The sprawling way she had taken over his bed when he had been in the shower apparently now included his body as well. Kaoru shifted so that the slide of her legs tangled in his became apparent; Kenshin lifted himself as high as he could without disturbing Kaoru and looked down. Apparently, she had kicked the blanket to the edge of the bed again.

He’d have to remember in the future that she liked to snuggle. Shifting to move out from under her, he stiffened when she wiggled closer, the noise coming from her throat unhappy; he swallowed when she slipped her hands under his shirt and fisted her fingers in it, moving until her mouth was pressed against the skin of his throat.

“Honey,” Kenshin muttered, sliding over until half of him was hanging off the bed. Maybe he should have gotten her promise not to get handsy. Not that he minded, but Kaoru was still under the impression that he had a girlfriend. “You’re going to have to let go.”

He managed to untangle her fingers and hit the floor with a thump. Groaning, he rolled onto his back and glared at the arm hanging off the bed. There were loud grumbling noises, some rustling and then the arm disappeared. By the time he had pulled himself up she had sprawled onto her back and her braid was wrapped around her throat, her lips parted as she breathed.

Pushing himself to his feet he decided to do the honorable thing. First, check on Sano and make sure he wasn’t burning his kitchen down or ruining the pans he knew better than to use. Second, distract himself until Kaoru woke up so he didn’t crawl back into bed and nuzzle her neck until she woke.

It took long moments before he could get his feet to work.


	6. Chapter 6

“Kenshin,” Kaoru argued, her face set in a frown as they walked toward the fancy lettered Italian restaurant. “I’m not dressed for this. In fact, I am not dressed for anything other than being a slob on my couch and pretending I don’t have a Calc midterm tomorrow.”

“You look beautiful,” Kenshin corrected with a smile, taking in her rumpled form. “Everyone is feeling the stress of midterms. You’ll fit right in. Don’t worry about it.”

Kaoru gave him a disbelieving look. “Kenshin, I have monkeys on my shirt and I slept in these pants last night. How, exactly, am I going to fit in?”

Kenshin shook his head, ignoring her protests as he ushered her into the restaurant. Thankfully, the lighting was dim enough that it hid her blush and allowed her to jab him in the ribs as the hostess walked up. If Kaoru’s outfit was inappropriate, she didn’t say anything, just politely asked the standard questions and led them to a booth near the back. Kaoru slid in and ordered water, ignoring the way Kenshin tilted a brow at her.

“I’m cutting back the sugar intake,” Kaoru informed him, crossing her arms and glaring once the waitress left. “Megumi is taking a class on it and she keeps threatening me with slides and conversations about how it affects the body. Next semester she’ll freak about something else, and I can go back to my terrible, terrible habits.

“Ah, the joy of living with a pre-med student,” Kenshin told her as he scanned his menu. “And that wasn’t judgement, honey. And I maintain you cannot with the background noise of Sano arguing with Megumi while he avoids studying.”

“But I need to study!” Kaoru reminded him, picking up her menu and wondering how many patrons would glare if she suddenly attacked him with it.

“You need to eat,” Kenshin returned. His eyes smiled at her, but his mouth was set in a firm line. “And the break will help with that. So, you can either have something picked out by the time the waitress comes back, or I get to order the appetizer.”

Kaoru scowled. “You eat raw oysters,” she accused, her eyes dropping obediently to the menu; her body shuddering, “It’s like swallowing raw rubber with sauce.”

Kenshin made a noise in the back of his throat, clearly amused.

If you say so,” he replied. “However, you’re off the hook in that regard. It’s not the right time of the year for oysters.”

Kaoru gave a sigh of relief. Chewing on her bottom lip, she scanned the menu hurriedly, attempting to locate something that sounded good. Their waitress appeared with their drinks and a basket of bread sticks. “Hello, my name is Mandy and I will be your waitress for the evening. Are you ready to order?”

Kaoru sighed in defeat.

“No,” Kenshin said smoothly. “But we will take the fried zucchini and stuffed mushroom as appetizers.”

Mandy nodded, jotting down his request before smiling. “I will be back in a few moments to take your order.”

Kaoru picked up her water and took a sip before sighing. “You’re trying to stuff me until I have to roll out of here again, aren’t you?”

Kenshin gave her an innocent look. “I don’t know what you are talking about.”

“Right,” Kaoru muttered before glancing back at the pasta selection again. “Sure you don’t.”

* * *

“I cannot believe you made me eat all that.” Kaoru groaned as she leaned back in the chair, yawning and glaring at him out of the corner of her eye.

Kenshin chuckled. “Does this mean you’re not going to argue this time when I try to pay?”

Her eyes snapped open and she sat up, reaching for her purse and turning to dig for her wallet.

“Oh no, you paid last time. And the time before that. Do I need to mention the one time you let me pay and then put the money back into my purse somewhere I wouldn’t notice it right away! It’s my turn!” Kaoru turned with the cash saved from the last outing with him and scowled at Mandy who was clearly ignoring her to flirt with Kenshin while she accepted the shiny piece of plastic in his hand.

“I will return this in a moment, sir,” Mandy promised, moving away. Kaoru crossed her arms and glowered at him.

“This is ridiculous,” Kaoru informed him. “You cannot possibly think I am so poor I cannot buy my own meals.”

Kenshin rolled his eyes. “No, Kaoru, that is not what I think.”

She huffed and lifted a brow. “What does your girlfriend think?” she asked, crossing her arms. “You cannot tell me she doesn’t object to you spending so much time and money on me.”

Kenshin’s eyes gleamed as he opened his mouth to reply, but the waitress returned, giving Kenshin his receipt.

“Have a nice evening,” she said brightly. Kaoru bit the tip of her tongue to keep from commenting on the way her eyes lingered on Kenshin’s shoulders. She wasn’t his girlfriend so she couldn’t get cranky with other women for leering. Regardless of the odd fizzy feeling in her stomach that might have been anger.

* * *

“I continue to fail to see how walking around at,” Kaoru checked her watch. “Twelve-thirty on a freezing cold night is going to do anything other than make me cranky.”

“You said you couldn’t study and you couldn’t sleep with Sano and Megumi making so much noise in your texts, honey, so that is why we are here.” Kenshin pointed out with that damnable smile. “Sano can’t possibly be in your apartment much longer.”

Kaoru sighed. “I did not expect you to drag _me_ out of the apartment. I was, in fact, hoping you would dragon _Sano_ out of the apartment.”

“And I thought after falling asleep in my car you would go straight to bed.” Kenshin replied dryly. “But this solves two problems, doesn’t it?”

She gave him a flat look but shook her head.” Glancing ahead, she tipped her head the the familiar figures ahead of her. “Hey, isn’t that one of those strange friends of yours?”

“There aren't as strange as some people,” Kenshin noted. “Like that hyper little girl you brought to lunch the other day.”

“Misao,” Kaoru laughed, moving away from the warmth of his side to poke him as his friend caught sight of him and waved, jogging over. “Is not strange. She is just a little more hyper than most. Besides, someone gave her a doughnut in class.”

“A doughnut?” he repeated, his voice thick was disbelief.

“Hey, Kenshin!” Cho said. Kaoru was pretty sure it was Cho. He had stopped to eat lunch with her one day when Misao’s football friends had come over to crowd the table. “Hi, Kaoru, how are you two been this evening.”

“Good,” Kaoru started.

“Stressed,” Kenshin interrupted. “Kaoru is apparently two wound up to sleep.”

Cho’s expression puckered in confusion. “Well, there are other activities than walking that can take care of both of those problems, if you catch my meaning. Well, I am late. Kamatari is expecting me for some history cramming, so see you two later!”

Kaoru frowned, watching Cho jog off. “What on earth?”

“He is always in a hurry,” Kenshin replied absently, his features thoughtful.

“No,” Kaoru started slowly, “I mean… his comment… like he expected…” she stopped, her eyes going wide, before she started punching his shoulder. “You jerk! He thinks I’m your girlfriend, doesn’t he? That’s what that little comment was about! Go tell him I’m not!”

“Hey… ouch, Kaoru!” He grabbed her hands and frowned down at her, his breath making little clouds between them. “No need to be violent!”

“You need to go tell him otherwise,” Kaoru scolded. “If your girlfriend finds out that the kendo team thinks I’m your girlfriend, you’ll hurt her feelings.”

His eyes gleamed and he shook his head. “Kaoru.” His voice was calm and slightly husky.

“Yes?”

“My hands are cold.”

Kaoru rolled her eyes. “That’s because it's freezing.”

Kenshin laughed and shifted forward so that his chest was pressed against hers and Kaoru’s eyes widened as his hands slid down her back and then straight down the elastic strap of her pajama pants until they met warm skin. Kaoru squealed, jumping against him and swearing colorfully. Once his hands weren’t like blocks of ice against the back of her legs, she pushed back far enough to glare at him. The position meant Kenshin bent slightly forward to warm his hands, which put their mouths in line.

Kaoru froze, staring at the violet eyes so close to her own.

“Cho has it right,” Kenshin murmured.

She stared up at him, eyes wide. “But.”

His mouth settled over hers. His lips were warmer than she thought they should be and chapped. Her fingers curled tightly in his shirt, head reeling from the sudden shift of her Kenshin-paradigm. But then the hands down the back of her pants slid up to curve along her butt and pull her closer before he deepened the kiss, holding her against him for long moments. When he finally pulled back her arms were around his shoulders and they were both panting, the white clouds of their breath mingling as they stared at each other.

“No buts.” He rasped. “Unless, of course, you don’t want to be my girlfriend.”

Kaoru thought they had several things they would need to discuss, but the giddy feeling in her stomach told her that about this, she had no confusion. Rising up on her toes, she pressed her mouth against his and kissed him. A long moment later he pulled back, breath harsh in his throat.

“It’s getting late; I should probably be getting you back.” He made no move to let go, and was in fact leaning in for another kiss when she yanked on his hair.

“Kenshin. Get your hands out of my pants.”

* * *

Kaoru stumbled a little as she shut the door, her lips tingling from the goodnight kiss Kenshin had insisted on giving her. Curling her tongue a little against her teeth, she flushed at the remembered feeling of his mouth, the lingering sensation of calluses on the bare skin of her sides and back. Pausing just inside the living room, she frowned at the man who was snoring like a train on her couch.

She smiled wickedly and picked up a pillow.


	7. Chapter 7

Megumi walked in the front door with a sigh, leaning her head back a slow smile curving her lips. She had no tests to study for, Sano didn’t have a basketball game, so once practice was over he was hers for some stress relief and Kaoru…

Kaoru was sitting on the couch reading a magazine. Her magazine. The magazine that she had used to buy the lingerie she planned to wear for her anniversary evening, which was tonight; sitting on the couch.

“Kaoru Kamiya! It is two in the afternoon! You were supposed to be gone an hour ago to spend the afternoon and the _night_ at Kenshin’s!”

The magazine slowly lowered and Megumi blinked at the disgruntled look on her friend's face. Crossing her arms, she refused to back down. “Boyfriend time is a happy time, which I will be enjoying as soon as Sano gets out of practice and has showered, so you will explain why you are in our apartment!”

“I’m protesting,” Kaoru informed her, deliberately turning the page.

“No you’re not.” Megumi corrected, setting her bag down on the floor and tucking the white box a little closer to her side. “Do you know how difficult it is to clear a schedule with Sano as your boyfriend? Our anniversary was two weeks ago.”

“You had anniversary time then.”

“He fell asleep on the couch,” Megumi corrected. “I fell asleep two hours later after studying for my anatomy test. I want to spend an evening having hot, wild sex with my boyfriend and your presence is going to interfere with that. I thought we agreed you would spend happy, quality time with your boyfriend while I jumped mine?”

Kaoru looked mutinous before her shoulders slumped. “He wants to teach me to cook.”

Megumi blinked, considering the phrase before shrugging. Surely Kenshin knew what he was getting into. “That sounds like a you problem. If Kenshin wants to teach you to cook instead of taking a golden opportunity to get himself laid, so be it. I love you, but get out!”

“You’re kicking me out?” Kaoru scowled.

“Most assuredly,” Megumi said. “Now, either you can leave peacefully or I can call Kenshin and tell him that you are too shy to wear the lingerie you bought.”

Kaoru sat up straight, her eyes going wide. “I didn’t buy any lingerie.”

Megumi’s lips curved. “So you _haven’t_ gotten laid yet. Explains the stress levels,” she stepped sideways to dodge the pillow flung at her head and grinned wider at the blush moving up Kaoru’s neck.

“You have five minutes to clear out with a duffle-bag or I am calling Kenshin. I might just call him anyway, because you are here when you’re not supposed to be. If you want revenge, burn down his kitchen. Or hold out, but I fail to understand why you haven’t jumped him yet. You can’t be that shy.” She placed her fingers against her lips and blew Kaoru a kiss at her strangled noise and blush. Letting out a low laugh as Kaoru scrambled to her feet and ran into her room, swearing, Megumi hummed as she set about straightening up the apartment.

Life was good.

* * *

“Kenshin, really,” Kaoru groaned, chewing on her bottom lip as she fidgeted on the edge of the couch, watching Kenshin move around the apartment. “Are you sure you want to do this? The last time I tried something more complicated than warming up soup, I caught the stove on fire.”

Kenshin lifted a brow. “Do you know why you caught the stove on fire?”

“No idea,” Kaoru admitted with a faint blush. “Really, there is a reason I am banned from only anything but the microwave and I have problems operating that! Do you remember what happened the last time you ate my cooking?”

“Honey…”

“I took Home Economics in high school,” Kaoru told him calmly. “I was put on chopping duty the second time the school cleared out due to the fire alarms going off.”

His eyes glittered with repressed laughter before he beckoned her forward with his index finger.

“You will like my way of cooking,” he promised, the edges of his mouth curling with mischief. “I have a rewards system.”

Kaoru gave him a considerate look before rolling her eyes.

“Fine, but it's your fault if we set off the fire alarm. I am not explaining this to the RA.” She still didn’t understand why there was a kitchen in this dorn, but she’d stopped asking questions years ago. The dorm was digustingly fancy. Taking a deep breath, she scowled. “I can’t cook, you know I can’t cook, more importantly, you have tasted my attempts at cooking. Remember? You wanted spicy Mexican to wash the taste out, so I fail…” her words were cut off by the press of warm lips against hers. Kaoru stumbled a little at the sudden pressure, her back hitting the fridge and scattering magnets as Kenshin continued to kiss her, slipping a hand along her jaw to hold her still.

“I told you, there can be,” Kenshin informed her between kisses, “rewards.” His thumb stroked along her check softly.

Kaoru exhaled heavily, staring into his eyes, “Oh.”

* * *

“I thought you said you knew how to chop?” There were slow pauses between words and heavy breathing punctuated by the sound of the knife clattering against a chopping board.

“Most of the time, I don’t have a boyfriend nibbling on my neck,” Kaoru said breathlessly.

“Megumi said you have a problem concentrating,” Kenshin said, snaking his tongue out to stoke the sensitive shell of her ear. “I’m just helping.” Grinning against her skin he pulled back. “You’re doing very well. Dropping the knife instead of cutting when you don’t have full concentration is a good idea, honey.”

Kaoru narrowed her eyes at him. “I’m going to hurt you.”

Blue-violet eyes sparkled with mischief. “I like it rough.”

* * *

Kaoru sucked on her bottom lip, eyeing the concoction Kenshin had measured out for her to add to the mixer. She was pretty sure she was doing a decent job. Even with Kenshin breathing along the back of her neck. The fact that she was just waiting for him to cheat somehow had her feeling a little jumpy. He had been nibble and stroking different parts of her body all afternoon and her skin was buzzing.

“You’re doing fine,” his lips brushed her shoulder. Kaoru gave a sigh of relief. Ignoring his mouth, she reached forward to turn the blender down. She jumped when his teeth suddenly scraped along the sensitive line of her neck. The motion had her hand smacking into the lever, so the mixer jumped up notches instead of down – pudding started splattering everywhere. Kaoru yelped and jerked it back, groaning at the mess on the countertop, and shaking her stinging hand.

Kenshin made a _tsking_ noise. “Concentrate.”

Kaoru picked up the wooden spoon next to the bowl and swung, hitting the arm wrapped around her waist. He yelped and let go, taking a step back.

“Concentrate?” Kaoru growled, hitting him again, this time in the wrist when he tried to grab the spoon. He dodged the third swing, swearing before he took a step back and peered at her from under his bangs. Kaoru narrowed her eyes at his look and waved the spoon in warning. The edges of his mouth curved into a sharp smile and he lunged forward. Her spoon connected to his side, but it did her little good as he took her to the ground. She grunted as her back hit the floor and glared at him.

“You’re so annoying.” She growled at him, wiggling a little to see if she could get loose enough to smack him with the spoon again.

He chuckled, leaning down to kiss her chin before swiping at a spot of pudding with his tongue. “So says the woman who attempted to assassinate me with a pudding spoon.”

“Next time I’m using a filet knife.”

“Do you know what a filet knife looks like?” Kenshin questioned. His eyes widened at the look that crossed her face. Leaning down he covered her mouth with his, kissing her hard enough that she gasped in surprise. He eased a little and then moved away, kissing away the flecks of pudding along her cheeks and nose while she breathed raggedly.

When he finally pulled back, she stared up at him. Heat had turned her breathing rough, but she wasn’t feeling particularly forgiving at that moment. No matter what her body was demanding. Lifting her chin, she cleared her throat. “We should clean up the mess.”

He sighed and helped her up.

* * *

“I thought you said you could stir something simple like sauce without distraction,” Kaoru drawled, enjoying herself immensely. The past ten minutes had been fun as she turned the tables on her touch happy boyfriend. Lifting her fingers, she eyed the splatters of chocolate across her fingertips. She had just poured the pudding into a different bowl and hadn’t escaped unscathed.

Sometime in the cleanup, he had decided that he had missed a patch along her collarbone, and her skin still tingled. She couldn’t quite recall what reason he gave for nibbling along the little hollow in her throat; in fact, she was having a hard time remembering anything except the way he had used his tongue. Eyeing the way he was watching her out of the corner of her eyes, Kaoru considered her fingers for a long moment. With a slightly wicked smile Kaoru lifted her hand to her mouth.

Staring with her thumb, Kaoru slowly licked her fingers clean, sucking lightly at the tips, pretending not to notice the way Kenshin had stopped stirring and more importantly, stopped pretending he wasn’t watching what she was doing. Sucking her pinky fully into her mouth, she swirled her tongue around it before pulling it free and giving Kenshin an innocent look. Offering him a grin, she wiggled her fingers.

“All clean.”

Kenshin made a strained noise, his body shivering as he turned back to the bubbling sauce. “Right,” his voice was strained. “Clean.”

Kaoru, pleased with herself, reached over and pulled the spoon from his mostly lax fingers and blew on the spoon before tasting the sauce. Running her tongue around her lips she grinned brightly. “You know, I don’t usually care for tomato based sauces, but that’s really good!”

“I’m glad you like it,” Kenshin finally said. Kaoru looked up at him, her breath catching in her throat as his hand reached out of her vision, the audible click of the stove top being turned off loud in her ears. His other traced her jaw before sliding up behind her ear to tangle in her hair.

“Very, very glad,” his mouth settled over hers, and for all that his kiss was soft, the grip on her hair was firm as angled her mouth for a better angle.

* * *

Kaoru internally winced at the way Kenshin’s back hit the counter, but she didn’t stop what she was doing; sliding her fingers up his shirt to feel the hot skin of his stomach, her mouth locked on his. Both his hands were buried in her hair, destroying her braid as he sank into her kiss.

“Mess,” Kaoru managed when he pulled back, sucking in a deep breath before kissing behind her ear and nibbling a path down her throat. “Food. Mess.” Those words were almost more than she could get out.

“Later,” Kenshin growled, tilting her head back to gain better access to her throat. She groaned and feathered her hands across his shoulders, enjoying the way his muscles jumped at her slightest touch. Kendo had done wonderful things for his shoulders and stomach muscles and she loved running her palms across the taunt skin.

Kenshin growled something she couldn’t catch and she squeaked as he pulled her close, teeth nipping strongly at her shoulder.

* * *

‘Couch’ Kaoru thought fuzzily, ‘that’s the couch.’

She had given up on thinking when she had lost her shirt; her bra still caught on one wrist as Kenshin ran his hands along her skin; cupping her breasts and tracing patterns with his fingertips as she clung to his shoulders. She had gotten his shirt off him, and his pants were unbuckled, but she had gotten distracted from her goal when he dipped his head and started to use his tongue.

“Pants.” She finally managed to groan out, not wanting him to stop, but remembering the pants were important. “Now.”

He chuckled against her chest and jerked her pants off her hips with one hand. “Right.”

“Wrong,” she moaned as his tongue did something particularly wicked. “Pants.”

* * *

Kaoru panted from where she was sprawled across the length of his body. “We didn’t make it to the bedroom,” she commented fuzzily. His hands roamed her back.

“No,” Kenshin agreed, a satisfied note in his voice. “But you stopped worrying about the food.”

Kaoru pushed herself up and looked down at him in accusation. “You planned that.”

“Well, I actually had hoped to make it to the bed,” Kenshin responded in a lazy tone. “Next time I will take into calculation those wandering hands of yours.”

Kaoru blushed before giving him a very satisfied smile. “I can’t say I mind the result though.”

Kenshin watched her with a heavy lidded expression. “Liked that?”

Kaoru nodded, tracing a circle around his nipple with a finger. “Yes,” she admitted. Her only warning was the shift in muscles and then she was swept up as he stood smoothly.

“Then you won’t mind if I practice my technique in the bed.”

“Dinner?” Kaoru squeaked.

“Later.”

* * *

Kenshin woke to Kaoru tossing a leg over his waist and pressing closer, faintest noises of early morning grumblings showing her displeasure at whatever had woke her. Placing a hand on her head he smoothed her hair, making soothing sounds in his chest so that she settled. It was Saturday and early still. There was no need for her to wake anytime soon and he was enjoying the feel of her pressed against him.

She deserved at _least_ another half hour of sleep before he woke her. A slow smile curved along his lips as he considered all the ways he could wake her… it was going to be a good weekend.


End file.
